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A La Turca
If you fancy an antique Anatolian kilim to brighten up your home (and who doesn't?) A la Turca may be the place to get it. In the trendy Çukurcuma district, which is one of the best areas in the city to browse for antiques and curios, its small but interesting stock is certainly worth a second or third look.
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Ak Gümüs
Lapis lazuli has a long history, including being used as a gemstone in Mesopotamia and as a finely ground pigment in top-quality Ottoman-era miniatures and calligraphy. Here at Ak Gümüs, the deep-blue stone features in a wide array of jewellery.
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Ali Muhiddin Haci Bekir
It's best to buy lokum (Turkish delight) in specialist shops and you can't find one more specialised than this. The stuff was invented by Ali Muhiddin in the 18th century and it's now sold from this (the original) shop by his descendants. There's another store on İstiklal Caddesi in Beyoğlu and one in Kadıköy.
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Ambar
This small organic produce store smells as good as it looks. It stocks free-range eggs, tofu, soy milk and other health foods, as well as a range of stylish earthenware pottery and quality olive-oil soap.
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Anadol Antik
Fancy a wooden door from an Ottoman house? Or perhaps a ceramic-clad wood stove? This cavernous shop is filled with a hodgepodge of curios and collectables. If you brave the dust and the dim lights you just might find yourself a treasure.
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Antique Objet
The cute embroidered slippers sold here make great gifts for friends and family, and the suzani (needlework) pieces are the stuff that we all like to treat ourselves to once in a while. You'll need to rummage, as this place is jam-packed.
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Art.I.Choke
Some places are as much art gallery as they are shop, and art.i.choke is most certainly one of them. A shrine to the wonderful art of felt, it creates and sells unique objects made from the fuzzy stuff. The clothes, slippers, cushions, shawls and rugs on offer here are truly exquisite. If there's no-one in the shop, try the upstairs studio.
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Artrium
This Aladdin's cave of a shop is crammed with antique ceramics, Ottoman miniature paintings, maps, prints and jewellery. It also has occasional pieces of Ottoman clothing and fabric. If you're after anything in particular, ask the owner, as she'll be happy to rummage upstairs in the storage area where excess stock is kept. Pricey but nice.
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Bis
Its good line in funky urban wear, including clubbing wear, makes Bis a favourite with bright young things. There's another store at Hayriye Sokak 18A, Çukurcuma.
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Caferağa Medresesi
The rooms around this pretty medrese (Islamic seminary) are used as art-teaching studios and some of the product - jewellery, miniatures, ebru (marbled paper) - is sold here for reasonable prices. There isn't a lot to choose from, but it's certainly worth wandering in for a peek at what's on offer.
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Cevahir
Cevahir advertises itself as Europe's largest mall. It's home to many of the same stores that you'll find in Metrocity and Akmerkez, as well as familiar UK-based outlets such as Topshop and Miss Selfridge.
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Cocoon
There are so many rug and textile shops in İstanbul that isolating individual stores is usually particularly difficult. We had no problems whatsoever in singling this one out, though. In Cocoon's flagship store, four floors of felt hats and antique costumes and textiles from Central Asia are artfully displayed. The owners here really know their stuff, and most of their sales are international and dealer-based.
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Deli Kizin Yeri Junior
In Turkish, the name of this shop is 'The Crazy Lady's Place'. There's nothing nutty about buying the wonderful toys sold here, though. Dolls, marionettes, hand puppets and cute clothes are on offer, all featuring Anatolian motifs, materials and designs. Perfect gifts for the little ones in your life.
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Denizler Kitabevi
A charmingly eccentric shop specialising in old maps and books, Denizler Kitabevi also stocks antique prints and quirky chess sets with different historical figures.
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Design Zone
Contemporary Turkish designers and artists show and sell their work here. There's nifty jewellery (we love the lale motifs), ceramics, furniture and homewares, as well as some less impressive painting and sculpture work.
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Dhoku
One of the new generation of rug stores opening in the bazaar, Dhoku (texture) sells artfully designed wool kilims in resolutely modernist designs. Its sister store, EthniCon (Tekkeciler Sokak, Grand Bazaar), sells similarly stylish rugs in vivid colours and can be said to have started the current craze in contemporary kilims. Brits may have seen some of this store's products in the Conran Shop.
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Ekincioğlu Toys & Gifts
If your junior travelling companion's behaviour is on the skids and some urgent bribery is called for, this place should provide the answer, however temporary.
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Er & Ne & Met
Need a few rugs for your palazzo? This is where to get them. Specialising in oversized rugs, it stocks a large range of new, old, antique and silk examples of the craft, all of which are top quality.
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Fatih Pazari
On Wednesday the grounds, courtyard and surrounding streets of the Fatih Camii in the Western Districts host the Fatih Pazari, a great market selling fresh produce, clothes and household items.
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Galeri Alfa
What makes this store special is its range of charming toy Ottoman soldiers and court figures - even Süleyman the Magnificent has been shrunk to 10cm tall. It also stocks old maps and prints.
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Galeri Kayseri
Sultanahmet's most famous bookshop has two stores on Divan Yolu near the Sultanahmet tram stop. The reasons for this store's success are simple: the staff know and love their stock and the stock itself is extensive - thousands of English-language titles about Turkey and the Middle East.
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Gönül Paksoy
Paksoy creates and sells pieces that transcend fashion and step into art. She works in a number of forms, and these two shops stock her distinctive silk and cotton knits, jewellery based on traditional Ottoman designs, and silk and cotton clothing in rich fabrics with feature trimming.
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Greenhouse Bookshop Cafe
This friendly bookshop stocks the city's best range of books in English about İstanbul and Turkey. There's a huge kids section and a decent fiction section. It's where most of the expats in the know buy their reading matter.
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Hafiz Mustafa Şekerlemeleri
Opposite Ali Muhiddin Hacı Bekir, this shop also sells excellent Turkish delight. You can buy a small bag of freshly made treats to sample, plus gift boxes to take home. Best of all, they're happy to let you taste before buying (within reason, of course). There's also a small café/börekçi upstairs.
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Hikmet + Pinar
An opulently decorated store filled to the brim with top-class Ottoman-era furniture, mirrors, glassware, textiles and paintings, Hikmet + Pinar is the type of place you enter only if you're ready to spend the cash equivalent of a second mortgage. We bet they furnish more than their fair share of İstanbul mansions.
